Page:The Works of Samuel Johnson ... A journey to the Hebrides. The vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe. The fountains. Prayers and meditations. Sermons.v. 10-11. Parliamentary debates.pdf/520

 places, particularly in this Psalm, of which my text is a part. "The eyes of all wait upon thee: thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desires of every living thing. Behold" saith our blessed Saviour, "the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Not one individual can be so minute and inconsiderable as to escape the notice of Heaven's all-surveying eye; nor one so importantly large, and seemingly self-sufficient, as to subsist a moment without the Divine support. By him all things consist: "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

But man appears the distinguished charge of the beneficent Creator; and unless providence had connected rational beings by the peculiar strong ties of mutual obligation, perpetual dependency, and inseparable interest, they would, of all creatures, be the most destitute and miserable; for there is not one that in the first stages of its existence is so totally helpless, and absolutely insufficient for its own preservation, support, or defence, as man. Therefore parental tenderness is both early and passionate, permanent and lasting. Our social dispositions and affections are enlarged to the utmost limits, and continue with us in the concluding decays, and last end of this mortal life; that we may always love one another, and glorify "the Lord who is good to all, and whose tender mercies are over all his works."

The consequences, in the last place, which result from the arguments you have heard, are so obvious, that I make no doubt but your own thoughts have already anticipated them. Ingratitude among men hath in every age, and every region of the earth, been an object of general detestation, and universally accounted a glaring indication of depravity of heart. If the case stand thus among mortals,